Protest and democracy: Conceptualizing democracy in post-communist Bulgaria

What concept of democracy did the pro-democracy protests in post-communist Bulgaria use and did it change between the beginning of democratic transition in 1989 and 2020, when the last mass protests in the country took place? What concepts of democracy were constructed by different groups involved in the protests (dissidents, representatives of the communist political elite, the newly emerging anti-communist opposition, and by grassroot movements, that mushroomed after the EU accession of the country in 2007)? The pro-democracy protests had a notable effect on democratic practices in the country. Data from various value surveys demonstrate that at the end of the period more people were ready to get involved in different forms of participatory decision-making, a growing demand for greater transparency and less corruption in the country's governance was also noticeable. The aim of the paper is to provide answers to the questions above by examining democracy-related narratives during the biggest mass protest mobilizations in Bulgaria since the beginning of transition to the present. It will thus attempt to trace the different conceptualizations and reconceptualizations of democracy at different critical junctions in the democratization trajectory of the country. Analysis of key narratives (speeches, declaration, open letters, etc.) from the protest mobilizations will be used to identify the various ways democracy has been articulated there. The object of study will be the major protest mobilizations in Bulgaria in the period 1989-1991 (beginning of transition to democracy) and 2013-2020 (the recent large mass mobilizations). One of the working hypotheses of the paper is that the protests in these two periods represent critical juncture moments (situations qualitatively different from the ordinary historical development), in which opportunity has opened to introduce new political agents, new agendas, new (or reevaluated) values. Data from sociological surveys, archival data along with qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with participants in the protests will also be used. Drawing on the little studied case of recurrent mass protest mobilizations in post-communist Bulgaria, a new light on the link between protest mobilizations and new conceptualizations of democracy will be shed.